Saudi Arabia Says It Will Cut Production to Stem a Slide in Oil Prices

At the same time, the United Arab Emirates, which is investing billions to increase its capacity to produce oil, was a modest winner on Sunday, gaining an increased quota of 200,000 barrels a day, beginning in 2024. The United Arab Emirates has long sought to produce more oil, even staging a rare public fight with the Saudis in 2021 and suggesting it might leave OPEC.

With oil vital to the economies and governments of many of these countries, it was not surprising that the tricky issue of addressing quotas produced a meeting that ran well into the evening in Vienna.

Mr. Bronze of Energy Aspects said the agreement tried to tackle issues that had bedeviled the group. “I do think as the market digests the details, there is real substance here,” he said.

The oil officials met over the weekend to decide what to do about markets that had weakened in recent weeks. Prince Abdulaziz had been particularly vocal about warning that the group might cut production to shore up prices and trip up traders betting on lower prices.

Other producers, including Russia, have been less enthusiastic about scaling back production.

Sunday’s meeting occurred only two months after OPEC Plus announced an earlier round of cuts. Those trims began in May and have had little time to make an impact. Analysts also say that the oil markets — where prices have slipped about 12 percent since mid-April — have been heavily influenced by broader economic factors, including China’s weaker-than-expected economic growth since the end of its “zero Covid” policies. That could lessen the impact of supply cuts.

On Thursday and Friday, after Washington reached a deal on the debt ceiling, prices for Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose about $3 a barrel to about $76, but prices remain slightly below their levels on the eve of the April cut.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement comes a couple of days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit the country for talks with Saudi leaders.

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